


Two for One

by JB Harris (LizAna)



Series: The Janto Files [15]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst and Feels, Based on a Tumblr Post, Clones, Confusion, Kissing, M/M, Mild Smut, Zygon, big ugly alien, janto, multiple Jacks, what happened in the TK Maxx dressing room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 00:56:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15401409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizAna/pseuds/JB%20Harris
Summary: Ianto finds himself with two Jacks. What could possibly be wrong with that? Everything, apparently. When saying "I love you" becomes problematical.Set after the end of S2 but before CoE.Chapter one is based off a tumblr prompt, but chapter two is going to be about when Jack and Ianto start calling themselves a couple -- In the beginning of CoE Ianto is all giddy about people calling them a couple (so cute) and Jack is all snarky (why tho?) like "so what? we are" and Ianto says "I dunno, it's all just a bit new to me." And I'd always wondered when and how that had happened. Just my take on how that conversation might have come about as a consequence of the two Jacks in chapter one.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The tumblr prompt:
> 
> Imagine The OTP  
> Person A: W-who do I shoot!?  
> Person B: Them!  
> Clone: No! They’re lying! Remember? I love you.  
> Person A: *shoots the clone*  
> Person B: What the-  
> Person A: ‘I love you’ sounds like something you wouldn’t say to me.  
> Person B: Ok, WOW-

“There you are!” Ianto slowed from the flat-out sprint he’d been running for the past few minutes as he approached Jack.

“I lost it, somewhere in the luggage section,” he puffed, bending over to set his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Blimey, he was getting unfit. Too many takeaway dinners. “Gwen’s still sweeping the lingerie department, though last I saw, she seemed a little distracted by the fifty percent off lacy pants.”

Jack arched a suggestive eyebrow. “Hmm, maybe we should check it out before we leave.”

He didn’t even have the energy to give that comment the eyeroll it deserved.

They’d been chasing a Zygon around TK Maxx for the better part of the morning—a huge amphibious metamorphic humanoid alien. In its true form, it was large, red and ugly, with a cone shaped head and was covered in suckers all over their arms and torsos. The problem was, the Zygon could shape-shift to look human, so they’d had to lock down the department store with all the customers and staff inside until they flushed the alien out. Unfortunately, the only way they had to track it was the weakening rift energy. Ianto was sure if Tosh was still here she would have been able to configure a scanner or do _something_ to separate the creature from human. In the months since she and Owen had died, however, they’d just been making do. Sometimes scraping by the skin of their teeth it felt like.

“So, you didn’t see it come this way?” he asked, pushing straighter.

Jack sauntered up to him, grin still firmly in place.

“Kinda hard to notice anything else when you’re all sweaty and flushed.” Jack leaned in until his lips brushed his ear. “Makes me think of the last time I saw you like that.”

Despite himself, he couldn’t help the small shudder that rippled through him at the memory. It’d been the day before yesterday, Jack had tied him to his bed using two of his favourite silk neckties and then proceeded to torture him with his lips and tongue, over every square inch of his body until he’d been begging for mercy. He’d come so hard his vision had blacked out and he’d seen stars for a moment.

“Jack.” He bit off the end of his name, clenching his teeth as Jack’s mouth shifted from his ear to his jaw line, kissing along and then down. It was taking every ounce of willpower he possessed not to give in and snog Jack senseless, see how he liked having his thoughts scrambled when there was an alien on the loose. “Jack, in case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t exactly the time. Big ugly alien to catch, remember?”

Jack’s right hand landed on his arse and squeezed, almost painfully. “Ugly, huh? Is that your professional opinion as a member of Torchwood, Mr. Jones?”

Jack pulled him in, pressing their bodies together as he returned to kissing Ianto’s neck, finding the spot just below his ear that always made him shudder.

“Maybe we should give the dressing room another try.” Jack had that tone in his voice, the one that told him he’d forgotten everything but the idea of getting them both naked as soon as possible. What the heck was up with him? Yes, occasionally he stole a kiss or a grope—or a little more if he could get away with it—but not usually while they were mid-chase with a dangerous alien hiding out in a department store.

“Not after what happened last time,” he admonished. “I thought that poor sales clerk was going to have a stroke.”

He felt Jack grin against his neck. “I think he wanted to join in.”

He rolled his eyes and set his hands on Jack’s shoulders. Time to get back to work. “When we catch the big sucker-covered alien, then I’ll think about visiting the change rooms with you on the way out. In the meantime—”

He broke off with an unintelligible sound as Jack bit down gently on that spot below his ear and his knees nearly gave out on him at the shock of pleasure shooting through his body, ending with a swelling that was going to be _very_ noticeable. They were standing in the middle of the appliance department for God’s sake, surrounded by toasters and kettles. 

“Jack—” It was meant to be a warning, but it came out sounding closer to a groan.

“Ianto?”

For a second, confusion fogged his thoughts, because it had sounded like Jack was calling his name from behind him. Except Jack was in front of him, laving his tongue up his neck and _Christ_ if he didn’t stop then he wasn’t going to care about the Zygon anymore and the change rooms were going to start looking like a very good option, even if they got caught by a hapless sales clerk yet again.

“Um, _Ianto_?” He pulled away from Jack and spun because that time he knew for sure Jack’s voice had come from behind him. Jack stood a few steps away with his arms crossed and a hard glint in his blue eyes. “Whatcha doin'?”

He glanced over his shoulder to see the Jack he’d just been kissing levelling a glare on the Jack who’d interrupted them.

 _Oh sodding hell_. He yanked his gun out and backed away, keeping them both in his sights. One of them was the Zygon, but how did he work out which?

“Gwen?” he said, tapping the comm in his ear. “I need you in the appliance section. Right now.”

“On my way,” she replied without hesitation.

The Jack who’d just arrived strode forward and stopped to face off with the other Jack, glaring heatedly at each other.

“Mind telling me what _that_ was all about?” Jack Two demanded, crossing his arms.

“Seems pretty obvious to me,” Jack One replied, tilting his chin up in that belligerent way he had.

“What’s going—” Gwen skidded to a stop beside him, eyes widening. “On?”

“There’s two of them,” he explained helpfully.

“I can see, that, Ianto!” Gwen replied. “How are we supposed to tell them apart?”

“Scan them for rift energy.” He was going to keep pointing his gun and shoot the first Jack who tried to run.

“That won’t work,” Jack Two said, not taking his eyes off Jack One. “I spend too much time around the rift, so I’m always radiating low levels.”

“We could just shoot them both and see which one wakes up,” Gwen suggested nonchalantly, as if killing her boss was a totally reasonable solution.

“No!” Ianto snapped at the same time as one of the Jacks.

“Seems like the easiest solution to me,” Gwen grumbled, crossing her arms.

“We are not shooting Jack,” Ianto insisted. It disturbed him sometimes how careless Gwen had become about Jack dying. Didn’t she care that every time he came back, it was like getting dragged over broken glass? Maybe she honestly just didn’t understand the same way he did.

“Then what are we going to do with them? One Jack is more than enough.” Gwen was starting to glance between them like she honestly wasn’t sure her sanity could handle two Jacks.

“Take them both back to the hub, run some tests?” he suggested, glancing at Gwen.

“No way,” Jack One said.

Jack Two eyed Jack One sideways. “We’re not risking a Zygon in the hub. We figure this out here and now.”

“So what do we do, then?” Gwen demanded. “Ask personal questions that only the real Jack would know the answer to?”

“Won’t work,” he replied with a shake of his head, trying to work out if there were any slight physical differences that would give away which was the big red sucker-covered alien in disguise. “They form a telepathic connection with the person they clone, so they’ve got access to all their memories and thoughts.”

“You know what I’d really like to know?” Jack Two demanded, turning his glare on Jack One again. “Why you were kissing my boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? Well, that couldn’t have been the real Jack, could it? He shifted his aim slightly to line up Jack Two.

“You were kissing one of them?” Gwen muttered with an eyeroll. “Jack really has rubbed off on you.”

Gwen seemed to realise what she’d said and smothered a laugh. Jack One grinned lasciviously at her. “You can rub off on me whenever you want.”

Oh, no way. That could not be the real Jack. He might flirt with Gwen, but he’d never been that blatantly suggestive with her.

Gwen seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. “Shoot him,” she said, gesturing at Jack One.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Jack One shouted holding out his hands. “Ianto, you would know if it wasn’t the real me kissing you, right?”

Well, he’d like to think so.

“He might have a point,” he told Gwen.

“Ianto!” Jack Two yelled. “You know me better than anyone, come on, you can see which one of us is real, right?”

“Which one do I shoot?” he demanded looking at Gwen.

“Ianto, shoot him!” Jack Two ordered.

“No, Ianto,” Jack One said in a rush. “He’s lying. I love you. You know that.”

Ianto swung the gun around and shot Jack One without another thought. Gwen gasped and Jack Two jumped back. Jack One collapsed to the floor and in another second, his form melted into the shape of the alien as it died. It had only just occurred to him, a second after the startling declaration, that he hadn’t got a hint of Jack’s usual drugging pheromones when they’d been standing so close earlier.

“What the—” Jack stared at him in disbelief. “Ianto, how did you—”

“I love you?” Ianto scoffed. “That’s something you’d never say to me without smirking or rolling your eyes.”

“Okay. Wow,” Jack said actually sounding a little hurt.

An awkward silence fell in which Jack seemed to be trying to think of something to say while Gwen looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

“Right, well, I’ll just get the store evacuated and wipe the CCTV footage,” Gwen announced a little too cheerfully before hurrying off.

Ianto slowly tucked his gun away, kind of wishing he could take the words back, as true as they were. “Shall I get the body bag from the SUV?”

“Ianto.” Jack stepped over to him, sliding a light hand around his waist. “You know I—”

“Can we not talk about this right now?”

He could already guess the end of that sentence, they’d had variations of this conversation before. It always ended with _you know I care about you_ , or _you know I trust you_ , or _you know I need you_. He knew Jack loved him in his own way, he was just totally incapable of saying it. That fact shouldn’t matter, shouldn’t sting, but it did sometimes.

“Alright, we’ll talk later,” Jack relented. “But we are going to talk.”

He nodded and stepped out of Jack's hold, mind already writing a list of all the things they needed to do to clear the scene.

“Oh and Ianto, one more thing,” Jack called, making him pause and look back. When he saw the smirk on Jack’s face, he wished he’d kept walking. “You were kissing a Zygon.”

“To be fair,” he replied in his practiced even tone. “The Zygon was kissing me.”

Jack’s grin widened. “Poison sacks in the tongue, you know.”

“I know.”

"Covered in suckers." Jack was clearly trying not to laugh.

"I _know_." He crossed his arms and speared Jack with a pointed look. “And we’re never going to speak of it again, or that incident report with you and the Abzorbaloff in 1953 might suddenly resurface.”

Jack looked aghast. “How did you find out about that? I had everything related to that case destroyed!”

He arched a superior eyebrow at the captain. “Because, Jack, I really do know everything.”

Jack pouted at him. “Fine, consider it forgotten.”

“Good.” He tugged his waistcoat straight and tried not to smirk his victory. “Now, let’s see about covering up alien rampage number two thousand and seventy-seven.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor warning... this ended up with way more angst and feels than I was anticipating. Sorry...

Jack watched Ianto cross the hub and pause next to Gwen at her workstation, leaning down over her shoulder to say something that left her laughing. She gave him a playful shove as he grinned at her before picking up her empty coffee mug and heading off toward the kitchenette.

Since they’d left TK Maxx earlier that afternoon, Ianto had been perfectly, unfailing professional and mild-mannered. It was only one step above what Jack had used to refer to as butler-mode where he went out of his way to become invisible. He hadn’t gone into butler-mode for nearly a year. But the mild-mannered general support officer? He made an appearance whenever Jack had done something wrong or they got into one of their silent fights neither of them were willing to acknowledge.

Ianto was an absolute expert at slicing their personal and professional relationships into two completely neat and separate pieces. He could be perfectly happy and chatty all day, minus any knowing smirks or affectionate touches he usually sprinkled throughout their interactions. But as soon as Gwen left and the clocked ticked past office hours, he either left with a terse goodbye and firmly told Jack he’d see him in the morning—in which case, they’d both use the time and space to get over whatever it was and never bring it up again. Or, on the rare occasion when he really pissed Ianto off, he had no qualms about telling Jack what for.

Usually Jack let it play out. Their relationship was a little unconventional for the 21st century, but it certainly worked and he knew Ianto was happy. At least, he _hoped_ Ianto was happy. And he needed Ianto in a way he’d never needed another person. Ianto grounded him, understood him like no one else had ever bothered to, not even the Doctor and certainly not John Hart.

What happened this morning with the Zygon—it was like it had knocked the very foundations of everything he had with Ianto, brought him face to face with something he’d known was lurking in the shadows, but had been ignoring in the vain hope it would simply go away.

Ianto had told him a handful of times that he loved him, always in a way or situation that never left Jack with the expectation it needed to be said back. And he’d appreciated the out, because he felt secure in his knowledge that Ianto understood the why of it. Ianto knew how he’d loved and lost over and over until sometimes it felt like there was ashes in his chest where his heart should have been.

And yes, he’d used the words _love_ and _Ianto_ in the same sentence himself any number of times—not mentioning the whole Good Thinking virus... that was one of the things they had both silently agreed never to talk of again. But he’d never said it properly; _Ianto, I love you_. Just thinking the words made him break out in a cold sweat. As though maybe if he never admitted it seriously out loud, the universe wouldn’t be so quick to snatch Ianto away from him. There was nothing logical in the belief, he knew that, but he also couldn’t get around it.

He’d been working on the mantra of _actions speak louder than words_ and done everything in his power to make sure Ianto felt loved since he’d come back from the year that never was with the doctor. But if he was honest with himself, he knew no amount of dates, or buying the special blend of expensive coffee beans he loved so much, or leisurely kisses, or worshipping Ianto’s body from head to toe would make up for lack of those three words.

And now he was worried that if he didn’t work up the courage to say it, he’d end up losing Ianto anyway.

The thoughts kept grinding through his mind, and no matter how he wanted to respect Ianto’s preference for waiting until the work day was over, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the afternoon.

He was pacing his office by the time Ianto came in with the mid-afternoon coffee and a plate of biscuits. While Ianto went to put them on his desk, he hurried over and closed the office door, glancing at Gwen who was munching her own biscuits and going through the 999 calls from the shoppers who’d been in TK Maxx that morning.

He shut the door and turned to lean against it.

“Something you needed?” Ianto asked, straightening the reports on his desk he’d been ignoring for two days.

“Ianto, would you just stop for a minute?” he said gently, drawing Ianto’s wary gaze.

“Oh, we’re going to talk, then.” He straightened his already perfectly straight tie—always his way of preparing himself.

Jack pushed off from the door and stepped forward, not wanting there to be so much space between them.

“Ianto, I’m sorry—”

“No, I’m sorry,” Ianto interrupted, avoiding his gaze. “What I said wasn’t fair on you and I didn’t really mean it.”

“Didn’t you?” he pressed, seeing the truth in Ianto’s blue eyes, that tiny glimmer of hurt he was trying so hard to hide.

Ianto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Jack, you know I don’t have any expectations of you—”

“Why not?” he interrupted, causing Ianto to appear perplexed. “We’re together, aren’t we? Committed. In a relationship.”

Surprise and a hint of hope flashed through Ianto’s expression. “You called me your boyfriend, like we’re an actual couple.”

“Sure, if you want to call it that,” he replied with a shrug. Truthfully, he hated the word _couple_ , though he wasn’t going to tell Ianto that now. It irked him how obsessed the 21st century were with labels. Everyone had to be something. Everything had to fit into neat little categories. To him, the facts were simple; Ianto was the person he would always come home to, no matter what happened. Ianto had his respect, his loyalty, his devotion, his heart and maybe even his soul. Saying they were a couple made it sound so clinical and impersonal when it was anything but.

However, Ianto was staring at him, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of this conversation.

“Ianto, I’ve given you everything of myself that I can. More than I’ve given anyone else in a long, long time. Isn’t that enough?”

Ianto’s gaze shuttered as he glanced away. “I told you, Jack, I don’t have any expectations of you.”

The flat words sparked his temper.

“Damn it, Ianto, I don’t know what you want from me.” It was a lie, he knew exactly what Ianto wanted from him. Three simple words. Why did they have to hold such power?

“It doesn’t matter,” Ianto replied through a tight jaw, and Jack could see the anger creeping up within him as well.

“But it does!” He closed the remaining steps between them and caught Ianto’s shoulders. “It does matter, because I would do anything, absolutely _anything_ in this universe for you. Don’t you get that?”

Ianto studied him for a long moment, probably weighing up his next words.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he finally said in a low voice. “This? Right here between us? It terrifies me, Jack. I love you so much, more than I’ve ever loved anyone, even Lisa. I would burn the world down before letting anything happen to you, and I know you’d do the same for me. I know you love me, even if you can’t say it. And I don’t want to imagine where that’s going to end for us, because it will end, one way or another. I hate the thought that if something happened to me, you’d find another glove or make a deal with the bloody devil himself to bring me back. I’m terrified that one day you’ll have to choose between me and the world, and your choice will be one neither of us can live with.”

By the time he was finished, Ianto had tears in his eyes and Jack’s heart was thrumming against the inside of his chest. Because Ianto was right—if he had to choose to let the world end or save Ianto, he couldn’t be sure he’d make the right choice—not that there was a right choice in that scenario. And if Ianto was taken too soon or too suddenly from him, he knew he’d go to the ends of the universe and time itself trying to find a way to bring him back.

For the first time, where he’d only seen light and love in their relationship, he now saw shadows and destruction. God. This was going to ruin him, maybe ruin them both. But it was too late now; even knowing it couldn’t end in anything other than soul destroying heartbreak, he couldn’t give Ianto up.

“What are we going to do?” he whispered, reaching up to cup Ianto’s face and brush a thumb under his lower eyelashes where the tears were gathering, but not falling.

“I don’t know,” Ianto replied. “I just know I can’t live without you.”

Jack pulled him in and they clung tightly to one another. He swore he could feel time ticking away, slowly but surely taking Ianto from him, tiny piece by tiny piece.

He couldn’t stand it, didn’t want to feel _this_ anymore—the aching knowledge that the years he spent with Ianto were so small in comparison to the possibly infinite life he had stretched out ahead of him, they might as well be negligible. _Alone_. He was always going to end up alone and even though Ianto was standing right there in his arms, he suddenly felt like they were a million light years apart.

Ianto shifted against him, pulling back far enough to seal their mouths together. Despite the ragged edges of his emotions, the kiss wasn’t desperate, instead it was poignant, wrenching his soul in an entirely new way.

Breaking the kiss, Ianto reached down and took his hand, then led him to the hatchway in the floor. Usually he would have made a joke about it being the middle of the afternoon and what if Gwen caught them from the twentieth time—they’d get an earful from her later. But he didn’t say a word, didn’t care about anything except following Ianto down into his bunker and then stripping each other off with an air of near reverence between the two of them. And when they finally came together, the pace was measured and deep as they made love in every sense of the world.

After, Ianto fell asleep on his chest, features relaxed in a way they hadn’t been since before Tosh and Owen had died. Late in the evening, he got an admonishing text from Gwen about the two of them skipping out and leaving all the work for her all afternoon—she knew exactly where they were and how many times did she have to tell them that sound carried from the hatch all the way across the hub and she couldn’t find her headphones so she’d ended up working in the tourist office. He grinned as he texted back that they’d make it up to her and he’d see her in the morning. She sent one last text about one of Owen’s old medical files throwing up a flag in one of the hospitals—a man taken in after a serious cardiac episode, not expected to live beyond the next twenty-four-hours. He had a hitchhiker—a relatively harmless parasite that lived out its life in many unsuspecting humans. If Mister Williams died, they’d need to go remove it before the autopsy.

He put his phone down and settled his arms more tightly around Ianto, who murmured something in his sleep and nuzzled closer. They’d go check it out first thing in the morning. For tonight, he was going to lay here and fall asleep to the feel of Ianto’s heart beating steadily against his own.


End file.
